"What! You mean Watling island may not be San Sal- 

 vador?" he exclaimed, his face a mixture of surprise and 

 dismay, for he, like all Bahamians, was aware that in 1926 

 the Bahamas Legislature had ofiBcially changed the island's 

 name to San Salvador in recognition of its being con- 

 sidered the place of Columbus's first landfall. Now it was 

 difficult for him to adjust his thinking. He became more 

 and more interested as I outlined the three possibilities 

 to him; and when we set out the next morning, he was al- 

 most as eager as I to seek out the various islands on our 

 schedule. 



When we left Nassau airport, the cabin of the 

 Widgeon loaded with supplies for Sea Diver, it was so 

 early that the sun was still below the horizon. As the sun 

 rose, the lovely panorama of the Bahamas was revealed 

 beneath us, the irregular shapes of countless islands bor- 

 dering the shallow, greenish water of the banks and the 

 sapphire blue of deeper areas. Carefully following the 

 folded chart in my lap, I was alert for our first glimpse of 

 Watling island. At last it appeared, a dim shape on the 

 horizon. Then, as we closed on it, I saw beneath our wings 

 a diamond-shaped piece of land, so dotted with lakes and 

 ponds it appeared almost half water. At the extreme north 

 end lay a large reef harbor, encased by a string of under- 

 water reefs and a few cays lying just above water. 



As we skimmed above the eastern shore I looked 

 down upon a coast of rocky headlands and occasional sand 

 beaches. The water offshore was ruffled with white seas 

 breaking on many scattered coral formations, making it 

 obviously foolhardy for any boat to attempt to reach the 

 rugged shore. There was a slender monument on one of 

 the points, and a white lighthouse that thrust skyward 

 from a higher rise of land. From a distance the western 

 shore appeared more approachable, and there were houses 

 and a road to be seen along its length. 



306 Sea Diver 



